Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Before his words had even fallen, the crowd below burst into laughter, jeers, and raucous cheering. The deafening wave of sound seemed ready to blow the roof clean off the building.
Li Shishi looked a little bewildered as well. “If Young Master Bai is unwilling… then why did you give me the painting?”
At that, Bai Yupu’s expression softened a fraction, and a faint, slightly bashful smile touched his face. “I gave that painting away only because I refused to admit defeat.”
“Because a woman once told me that if I wished to paint a beauty, I had to paint her heart first.”
“Paint my heart?”
Li Shishi’s face clouded with melancholy.
Bai Yupu nodded and continued, “I never imagined that what would move Top Courtesan Li the most would still be those days of roaming the mountains and forests in your youth, rather than any fine dappled horse or fur cloak worth a fortune… It seems I was shallow after all.”
“So the person in this world who understands you best is not me.”
“Then who is it?”
“She is the same as you-a woman.”
…
After a moment of silence, Li Shishi glanced at me, thoughtful.
Bai Yupu did not linger. He bowed once more, then took my hand and turned to leave.
I could not understand why Bai Yupu would come all this way only to stop at the threshold.
Compared with lust, what he seemed to feel more for these women of the pleasure quarters was appreciation, respect… and a pity he never put into words.
“Ninth Young Master, you painted Head Courtesan Li because you clearly like her. Why reject her, then?”
“If I like someone, must I possess her?”
He shot me a perfectly self-righteous glance.
“Vulgar.”
Me: “…”
Such was youthful arrogance, I supposed.
At that moment, spring was in full bloom and the warm breeze swept wide. Bai Yupu drove me along the broad road outside the city, beneath a canopy of green shade.
The scene truly was pleasant.
Only, after wandering for so long, he still refused to return to the manor, and I finally began to lose patience.
“Ninth Young Master, what else are you planning to do?”
“Mm. I still want to paint your heart.”
“Bai Jiu!”
“Ha!”
The youth behind me flicked the long whip and let out a sharp whistle. The horse immediately broke into a joyous gallop.
Yet not only was I unafraid, after sitting there long enough to grow annoyed, I even turned back to scold him that if he did not know how to drive, he should not drive at all.
Instead of being chastened by my scolding, he grew even more excited and immediately insisted on teaching me how to handle the reins. More terrifying still, I actually managed to guide the horse quite respectably.
Soon, I was even holding the reins myself and urging the horse into a light trot.
Bai Yupu sat right behind me. However unwilling he was to admit it, he had no choice but to acknowledge that I had some talent in this regard-more than he did, even.
What a waste for me to be a nun.
I ought to have been a lady bandit, a female cat burglar, or perhaps a woman in charge of the imperial stables.
The brilliant spring light illuminated a young, dazzlingly beautiful face. The youth dipped his head slightly by my ear, dark lashes lowered, a smile at the corner of his lips.
“Mistress Nun, do you have another name?”
“What?”
“Your given name.”
At that, I was briefly dazed. “Chunhua.”
That mud-scented name, once rolled around in his mouth, somehow emerged with an unexpectedly fragrant result.
“A good name.”
“Huh?”
“A garden brimming with spring, blossoms burning bright…”
His drawn-out final note carried a refined, languid resonance.
“That is Chunhua.”